All posts by csb10.top

Adam Gilchrist says the Australian team is tired of the criticism from former players, which is mostly directed towards the former coach John Buchanan. In the past few days, Shane Warne and Ian Chappell have picked on Buchanan, with Chappell stating that his daughter might have done better than Buchanan and Warne labelling Buchanan “a goose”.”I must say there has been a lot said in the papers this week,” Gilchrist said. “I guess one of the traits that we have a lot of pride in wearing the baggy green is that we show a lot of respect. That’s what we have prided ourselves on. It is an elite club and we have always felt that a major characteristic of being in that club is to show respect. It just seems that some guys in retirement have lost that.”Gilchrist also hoped the Test series against India would be free of the tension that was around during the ODI series in India. “It will be hard fought,” he said. “They are a team that has said that they want to take the challenge to us in an aggressive manner. Hopefully we won’t go down that route again in terms of the amount that was written about and time it took. It all got a bit out of control in the one-day series early on in India.”We are both aggressive teams, we are talented teams. I think we will just be trying to play hard aggressive cricket and not go too far with it.”On Australia’s bowling combination for the Test, Gilchrist said it would depend on the conditions, but he preferred a spinner in order to have a balanced attack. “As a general rule, I have always thought a spin bowler in a Test team is very well balanced as an option. But I must put an asterisk – it depends on the conditions and that’s what we have got to weigh up.”We definitely have got the arsenal to warrant four quick bowlers if the conditions suit. We have got a world-class spin bowler in Brad Hogg. He has proven that in one-day cricket and he’s now very excited about the opportunity to try and prove that he deserves to play Test cricket.”Gilchrist was not concerned about his record against India. His career average in Tests is 49.27, but in the 14 matches against India it drops to 29.95. “There’s no sort of box left unticked,” he said. “I have scored a couple of hundreds against them in very very difficult circumstances.”

Scorecard

An outstanding 278-run stand between Michael Bevan and Daniel Marsh helped Tasmania recover from early setbacks and finish the first day of their Pura Cup match against Western Australia well in command. After being put in to bat at Hobart, Tasmania slumped to 3 for 23 before Bevan and Marsh came together. When rain caused play to be curtailed 18 overs early, they were still undefeated, with Bevan on 161 and Marsh on 113.Their partnership was a new fourth-wicket record for Tasmania, obliterating the 258 of Danny Buckingham and Michael Taylor in 1987-88. Marsh’s century, which came off 147 balls and included 17 fours, was his first since December 2003, and finally ended a poor run with the bat this season.”I’ve been pretty disappointed that I haven’t been able to help the team out and get some runs,” Marsh said afterwards. “I’ve been working really hard in the nets and I think mentally the hard work’s going to pay off. I probably just made some better decisions and had a bit of luck today.”Western Australia are currently third in the Pura Cup table, and their excellent start would have given them hope of sneaking a place in the final – but Bevan and Marsh ensured that, by the end of the day, the Warriors were staring at a huge first-innings total. “There was some brilliant batting in the end, but we allowed them to get into form,” said Wayne Clark, the coach. “We bowled Dan Marsh into form early, and from then on he batted as dangerously as we know he can, and unfortunately we’re the ones he’s taken it out on.”

In a departure from his earlier stand, VVS Laxman has indicated that he is willing to bat at the top of the order. According to a report by the Press Trust of India, Laxman said: “I would not mind opening the innings.”Talking about his performances as an opener, Laxman expressed his disappointment with his record as a Test opener: 658 runs at 28.60. "I tried my best as an opening bat, but I think I did not live upto my own expectations. Also, the moment I failed one or two times they branded me a non-regular opener. I thought I could do better as a middle-order batsman because that’s the position I have batted throughout my career."Looking back at his omission from the World Cup squad, Laxman said that it was a "huge shock". "It was the most depressing moment in my cricketing career. For the past one year prior to the event, I was preparing really hard to contribute."Shrugging off that disappointment, Laxman said that he was back in top shape after having recovered from his side strain. "I had sustained a side strain on the West Indies tour [with the India A team] and had to take a month’s rest. Since then I have been doing exercises to strengthen my back."Laxman was also full of praise for the idea of holding a preparatory camp at the start of the season. "It is a really good idea to have this camp and it is good that they are emphasising a lot on fitness. Already, this camp has helped me recuperate and make the back really strong."India play a two-Test series against New Zealand next month, and Laxman was keen to make up for his failures on India’s tour to New Zealand. “We had a bad away series in New Zealand and the entire team is looking forward to this one. It is important that before we go to Australia our confidence level should be really high, so this series is important.”

All Today’s Yesterdays – August 21 down the years

August 20 | August 22

1986
Nobody had a greater sense of theatre than Ian Botham. Restored to the England side after a ban for admitting to the use of marijuana, he took a wicket with his first ball against New Zealand at The Oval, having Bruce Edgar caught by Graham Gooch, whose remark said it all: “Who writes your scripts?” Botham had just taken his 355th Test wicket, equalling the world record. Naturally he soon got the 356th, Jeff Crowe lbw – and followed it up with a rapid fifty. Beefy was well and truly back.1914
One of England’s most prominent and controversial legspinners was born. Doug Wright was prominent because he took seven hat-tricks, still a record in first-class cricket – and had his moments in the Test team too, including 7 for 105 at Sydney in 1946-47. But controversial because his 108 Test wickets cost 39.11 each: he simply bowled too many bad balls. Against the strong Australian teams he faced, this was asking for trouble. He was on the winning side only once in 14 Ashes Tests.1988
Yorkshire beat Surrey by three wickets at Chingford to win the inaugural women’s County Championship.1907
Birth of the first woman to captain England in a Test. In the inaugural match, at Brisbane in 1934-35, Betty Archdale hit an unbeaten 32, her highest Test score, out of an unexceptional total of 154 – which was enough to win the match by nine wickets. Australia made only 138 and lost the three-match series 2-0. Archdale went to live in Australia, where she died in January 2000 aged 92.1878
Against Kent at The Oval, Surrey wicketkeeper Ted Pooley made his eighth stumping of the match, then a record in first-class cricket. Against Sussex on the same ground in 1868, he made 12 dismissals, another world record at the time and still the record for a first-class match in England. One of the best keepers of his day, he never won an England cap – although he would have played in the inaugural Test, at Melbourne in 1876-77, if he hadn’t been in jail. He was arrested following a betting scam in New Zealand.Other birthdays
1905 Stan Worthington (England)
1905 Errol Holmes(England)
1935 Ken Taylor (England)
1961 V.B.Chandrasekhar (India)
1970 Keith Semple (West Indies)
1975 Simon Katich (Australia)

Martin Bicknell took his 1000th first-class wicket when he had Matthew Dennington caught behind by wicketkeeper Jonathan Batty on the final day of Surrey’s Championship match against Kent at The Oval today. It was Batty’s ninth catch of the match.Bicknell was made to wait for the wicket, and the mounted-ball trophy which had been on standby in the Surrey dressing-room for much of yesterday afternoon was finally unveiled. He should have reached the landmark shortly before tea on Thursday, but Azhar Mahmood split a routine second-slip chance from Michael Carberry.Bicknell, 35, made his debut for Surrey in 1986 and has been their most reliable bowler for more than a decade. He played four Tests for England, two in 1993 and two last season after a decade on the sidelines."To reach 1000 first-class wickets is a hell of an achievement for any bowler and one I’ve targeted since I went past 700 about five years ago," Bicknell told the Surrey Advertiser. "My dream has always been to do it at The Oval, my home ground, but you can’t get too choosy really. I had a few problems with my hamstring at the start of this season but the ball is coming out well now."

The reaction to India’s current dip in form has been similar to the invective thrown at them before the start of the World Cup last year. Batsmen have been described as “playing like millionaires”, bowlers criticised for being “clueless”, and the attitude branded as “demoralised”.Two suggestions have been doing the rounds: the first is with regard to the batting order, where most have advocated a change in the opening combination. The other relates to picking a specialist wicketkeeper to relieve Rahul Dravid of his “burden behind the stumps”.The said: “Sourav Ganguly should continue to open the innings, with Yuvraj [Singh], and push Sehwag down the order, making very clear that it is not a demotion but an opportunity for him to show what he can do in the middle order.”The , meanwhile, called for a change but felt that Ganguly would be better off batting at No. 5 or 6, with Yuvraj and Sehwag opening the innings. also said that Ganguly should go down the order, and was critical of his “inflexibility when it comes to shifting the batting order. Despite his limitations while facing pacers, Ganguly insists on batting at the top.”On the Dravid issue, the wrote: “Dravid may toil manfully and quietly but the strain of the double duty is now clearly evident in his batting stats.”And there were other thoughts too. India’s decision to field first in the second match at The Oval prompted Kris Srikkanth, the former Indian opener, to write in the : “It is high time we made it a law that when a toss is won, we must bat. We Indians are very poor chasers and unless and until the conditions are totally in favour of bowling first, we must always choose to bat when the option to do so is ours.”Ganguly has all along insisted that it was just a matter of getting it right in one game and that the team’s fortunes were bound to improve. It probably takes about the same time for the reactions to swing to the other extreme. Over to Lord’s.

Michael Kasprowicz will replay Steve Harmison’s final ball for the rest of his life after the heart-breaking yet thrilling conclusion to the second Test. A hurting Kasprowicz said the aim was to “dig in and have some fun” as he joined Brett Lee with Australia still needing 62 for victory.But three short of the most amazing come-from-behind victory he was judged to have gloved Harmison’s pinpoint short-ball, giving the wicketkeeper Geraint Jones a comfortable legside catch. “It’s the most vivid delivery that I’ll replay in my mind for the rest of my life,” Kasprowicz told . “It just got big quick and I didn’t see too much of it.” Slow motion replays suggested Kasprowicz’s hand was off the bat when hit, but it was millimetre-close and Billy Bowden gave the decision.The feeling was similar for Brett Lee, who took a string of stinging blows from Andrew Flintoff, including one on the armguard that he said was the fastest he had faced. “As much as we’re hurting right now mentally and physically, it’s good for cricket,” Lee said.When asked about his pain, Lee pointed to his heart and said: “I’m hurting more here. We knew we had to take a few on the body. I’d do it plus tax again to make sure we give everything we can to make Australia win.”Kasprowicz believed they could scrape home and the pair comfortably added singles, boundaries, byes and leg-byes in the gripping 59-run stand. “Over the years, this Australian side has come back from some pretty amazing positions,” he said. “We just decided our best chance was to get in there and dig in and have some fun along the way.”

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has sent the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) a proposal regarding a two-match one-day series to be played later this year.Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, the PCB’s chairman, told a press conference on Tuesday that the friendship series would consist of one match in each country. “We have proposed that India first come to Pakistan to play the first one-day international of the friendship series in September,” said Zia. “Pakistan will then find a slot and visit India in October to play the second match.”India and Pakistan have rarely clashed on the cricket field since the Kargil skirmishes in 1999. They did play each other in the Carlton and United World Series in Australia in December 1999-January 2000, but have met only once since then – at the recently concluded World Cup. The Test matches scheduled between the two teams as part of the ICC’s World Championship have also not taken place, with the Indian government refusing to sanction the participation of the national side.

Sourav Ganguly was lying low ahead of his side’s attempt to win their first match at their fifth attempt in Harare when they face Zimbabwe in the second Test starting Tuesday.Ganguly declined to speak after practice at Harare Sports Club on Monday, with Greg Chappell, the coach, suggesting that the captain did not “want to be grilled by them (Indian press)”. His absence represented a break from tradition when captains talk pre-match about their team, state of the wicket, recent form plus expectations of play.Despite leading India to an innings and 90 run win over hapless Zimbabwe with a day to spare in the first Test at Bulawayo, Ganguly is facing the prospect of his working relationship with Chappell plummeting to crisis point. Ganguly, who hit a much-needed century in that game, caused a sensation by revealing that he had been asked to stand down as skipper before the match.It was reported that Chappell hinted that Ganguly’s form as a batsman might be better served if the captaincy was surrendered but Chappell vigorously denied that the suggestion was made by him.Meanwhile, the Indian team was working off steam on the field and in the nets, even under a hot sun, following their break at Victoria Falls. They are clearly determined to beat Zimbabwe in the final match of their tour and by as big a margin as possible.

West Indies have suffered a blow ahead of next week’s first Test with the injury-enforced withdrawal of the batsman Wavell Hinds. Hinds broke the little finger on his left hand while fielding in the tourists’ opening tour match against Queensland on Thursday.A team spokesman said Hinds, the left-handed batsman with 44 Test appearances, had to keep the finger immobilised for ten days, which would also force him out of the three-day match against Victoria in Melbourne, starting on November 11. Hinds is not expected to be fit until the second Test in Hobart, beginning on November 17.The unavailability of Hinds, who averages 33.54 in Tests with five hundreds, will solve a selection riddle for West Indies over who will open the innings with the World XI one-day representative Chris Gayle. Devon Smith is now expected to partner Gayle for the first Test starting next Thursday.